what was that? is that all there is? who is this? this is it.

Right about roundabout just about 25 years ago this ad appeared on the back cover of Iron Lung, a Seattle bike messenger zine.  Shortly after Kathleen said “fuck off Charles” and just before she opened her own bike shop right around the corner from Wright Bros. 

25 years ago I was a messenger wannabe, still three months from my first messenger job. I was working at the Elysian inside Game Works and applying to grad schools. I wrote a little note to the editor of the zine and they reprinted it on page 2

here and now I'm re-reprinting  

I know now what I knew then 

but I didn’t know then 

what I know now

2/11/97

Hey

I’m not a messenger but I have So much respect for those who are. I identify with them more than all the damn CBC- neonclad - “on your left” - STP -rearview mirror on the helmet- Burke Gilman - Gregg's Greenlake - weekend warrior gomers I see on the road. I appreciate the individualism, the freedom, the attitude and the day-to-day grind of riding for a living, even though I don’t do it. I don’t own a car. I own 3 bicycles. I ride to work everyday and I ride for fun too. I got a $47 ticket for not having a headlight on the way to the bar. It was 10:30pm on Capitol Hill and the damn cop spent 20 minutes lecturing me on bicycle safety and about his first bike in 1955 and how it came with a headlight. The aesthetics of my stripped down bike were lost on Officer Friendly: no lights, no reflectors, no fenders, no derailleurs, no toe clips, no stickers, no decals, no name brands, one speed, one hand brake. The ultimate bar bike. 

I picked up Iron Lung at Wright Bros. But now I’d love to have it mailed to me. I saw the bike zine article in Bicycling Magazine… …when popular culture finally gets around to looking at what’s really going on, it’s usually stale. And it was. 

Thanks

Mark

4 Comments

blew off grad school and continued to work as a messenger for a few years. Here's to 09 Dave. Here's to 32 cent stamps and $300 1BR apartments on Capitol Hill. Here's to Burke Gilman chuffers in STP Tyvek jackets. Here's to the cops with bigger fish to fry. Here's to Free Range Cycles 25 years later.

shame works

Numerical addresses across the street but on different roads. That’s cool.

numerology schnumerology i appreciate your attention to detail and the numbers are there to support your thesis

Add Comment

Your Name: (Required)

Comment:

Please enter the 4 to 6 character security code:

(This is to prevent automated comments.)